Brazil's Senate commission to vote on president's impeachment next week

The Brazilian Senate's special commission on the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff approved on Tuesday at its first meeting that it would vote on May 6 on whether the process should continue or not.

If the commission votes and makes its recommendation, a full Senate vote could take place on May 11, the commission's rapporteur Antonio Anastasia told a press conference. Anastasia is a senator from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB).

Under the Brazilian law, if a majority of senators, or 41 out of 81 vote in favor of the impeachment, Rousseff will be removed from office for 180 days as a full impeachment trial goes ahead, and Vice President Michel Temer would become the interim president.

A final impeachment vote would require a two-third majority to oust her.

On the same day, representatives from Brazil's largest labor unions, urged Rousseff to take active measures to shore up her support and mobilize people against "the coup".

Union leaders sent her a package of suggestions, including the expropriation of lands to implement agricultural reform, the removal of law bills currently being viewed by Congress, which might harm workers' rights, among others.

They also asked that representatives of the labor unions be given government positions, currently left vacant after former allies of Rousseff's Workers' Party abandoned her amid her impeachment fight.

The letter also invited Rousseff to participate in an event on May 1 in Sao Paulo, which will see a massive turnout against her impeachment and in defense of workers' rights.

Labor unions and their members have been stalwart defenders of Rousseff and her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whom they see as champions of the Brazilian working classes. Endi